At lunchtimes, he ate alone or with me and no one else. That didn’t go unnoticed either. Somehow Troy’s friends got it into their heads that I was responsible for his downbeat mood. A few weeks after we’d returned to school, I was cornered. Ayo, Zane, Meshella and Femi surrounded me as I was heading to my next class, pushing me until my back was against a wall and they were all in my face.

‘What’s going on with Troy?’ asked Ayo, getting straight to the point.

‘What did you do to him?’ Meshella asked, eyes narrowed.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ I tried to get past them, but Ayo wasn’t having it. He pushed me back against the wall again so hard that I dropped all the books I’d been carrying, but no way was I going to bend and pick them up. For the first time since they’d surrounded me, fear darted like fireflies inside my chest. Troy had changed and they were blaming me.

And the worst thing about it was they were right.

‘We’ve been watching the two of you whispering together at lunch,’ said Femi. ‘You couldn’t stand each other before and now you’re best mates? I don’t think so.’

‘You need to tell us what’s going on.’ By now, quite a crowd had gathered behind the initial four who were glowering at me with undisguised dislike. Troy was one of the most popular people at our school. I wasn’t. It was that simple.

Without warning, there came a commotion in the crowd, then Meshella, followed by Ayo, were pulled away from me. Troy moved to stand beside me, bristling at the crowd around us.

‘Someone wanna tell me what’s going on?’ he said, his words like icicles sharpened to a fine point.

Some of those in the crowd started to step back. Hell, if he hadn’t been standing right next to me, I might’ve backed off too. Troy. Was. Pissed.

‘Troy, we’re just worried about you,’ Meshella tried.

‘And you thought surrounding my sister and threatening her was the right way to show that?’ said Troy.

Sister?

The word rippled through our audience. Even I stared at Troy. He’d never called me that before. In fact, after he’d informed me that we weren’t family or even friends, I never expected to hear such a thing from him. Tears stung as I turned back to those surrounding us.

‘That’s right. My sister Callie married into Libby’s family, which makes Libby my sister too. Any of you have a problem with that, bring it. Now’s the time.’